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October 8-9, 2007
 Again
this fall the women’s golf team ventured to
Bellingham, WA to compete in the Western
Washington Women’s Invitational. The
tournament is played at the Bellingham
Country Club one of the nicest courses we
play all year. The difference in this
tournament from the others of the fall is
that we play against Division II teams
ranging from Western Washington to Hawaii
Hilo. By far this is my favorite fall
tournament because of the competition and
the immaculate golf course we get to play.
The
day of our practice round it was raining
quite steadily. This year we brought
Juanita, Alana, Courtney, Sue, Niki, and
myself to the tournament. Three of the girls
had never played the golf course and needed
a visual, so we played the first nine holes
soaking wet. As a team we decided that
playing on such a wet course and in such wet
attire that playing the last nine holes
would only wear us out for the following
day. So instead of playing we took two carts
and showed the newbies the rest of the
course. Because of all the rain we knew the
already long course would play longer which
for our team is a struggle, we aren’t that
long of a team. We went back to the hotel
and tried to dry our cloths, clubs, and
bags.
We
really got lucky for our first round because
the rain had held up. My first hole went
well and I believed that the rest of my
round would follow suite. I played so-so for
my first few holes and then had a string of
unluckiness. A few bad bounces, a struck
ground-under repair sign, and a bad lie
behind a tree skyrocketed my score but
didn’t make it unmanageable. I was on my 10th
hole and Steve walked up telling me Alana
had to quit playing and head to the hospital
because she was having a hard time
breathing. This added the pressure to the
now top four girls because every one of our
strokes was going to count. I kept a strong
mind set and pared my next hole. Then my
game slipped up with a double and a bogey on
two holes we hadn’t played the previous day.
With three holes left I played smart and
ended up par, birdie, par. At the end of the
first day I had shot an 86 and was unhappy
about my score but happy with how well I had
played, just a few truly unlucky shots had
hurt my score. Juanita on the other hand had
played extremely well and shot a 76 which
really helped our team out.
The
second day was just as nice but we lost
another player to sickness. Both Niki and
Alana had taken sick and we just hoped they
would feel better by the time we had a six
hour van trip home. I actually played very
well throughout the day. I had one double in
my first nine holes and pushed strong to
make a birdie on the next, darting in a
nine-iron. I continued to play well making
pars and a bogey here and there. I came to
my last two holes and was excited to post a
decent score. However my plan was ruined
when I doubled hole 8 and bogied 9. I was
bummed I hadn’t broke 80 but was excited
that Juanita had shot a strong 80 finishing
fourth overall. The tournament was
bittersweet because it was our final
traveling fall tournament and probably my
last time playing at Bellingham Country
Club.
Samara Kluever |
